---
title: Core Concepts
description: 'Key terminology and concepts you need to know when using Latitude'
---

This glossary explains the fundamental concepts and terminology used throughout Latitude to help you better understand the platform.

## Prompt Engineering Basics

### Prompt

A text-based instruction sent to a language model to guide its response. In Latitude, prompts can include logic, such as variables, conditionals, loops, and other advanced features using PromptL syntax.

### PromptL

Latitude's [prompt templating language](https://promptl.ai) that enables dynamic prompt construction with variables, conditions, loops, and other programming concepts.

### Language Model (LLM)

The AI system that generates responses based on prompts. Examples include GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, among others.

### Provider

The company or service that offers access to language models, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or Azure.

## Latitude Platform Components

### Prompt Manager

The core interface for creating, editing, and managing prompts in Latitude. Includes the Prompt Editor, configuration settings, and version control.

### Playground

An interactive testing environment where you can run prompts with different inputs and configurations to see how they perform.

### AI Gateway

The deployment layer that exposes prompts as API endpoints, making them available for integration with applications. These are the addresses through which you will access your agent.

### Evaluations

Tools for assessing prompt performance using different methodologies:

- **LLM-as-Judge**: Using AI to evaluate outputs
- **Programmatic Rules**: Using code-based criteria
- **Manual Evaluations**: Human review of outputs

### Logs

Records of all interactions between prompts and language models, including inputs, outputs, metadata, and performance metrics.

### Datasets

Collections of input/output pairs used for testing, evaluations, and regression testing.

## Advanced Features

### Tools

Functions that prompts can call to access external capabilities, such as retrieving information, performing calculations, or taking actions.

### Agents

Advanced prompts that can make decisions, use tools, and solve complex problems through multiple interaction steps.

### JSON Mode

A configuration setting that enforces structured output formats through JSON schemas.

### Cache

A mechanism that stores previously generated responses to improve performance and reduce costs.

## Collaboration & Deployment

### Version Control

Features for tracking changes to prompts, comparing versions, and managing the prompt lifecycle from draft to production.

### Environments

Different contexts (e.g., development, staging, production) for deploying and testing prompts.

### Telemetry

Automatic capture of metrics and performance data from prompt interactions.

### Webhooks

Integration points that trigger actions in external systems when certain events occur in Latitude.

## Development Concepts

### SDK

Software Development Kits (available for TypeScript, Python, and other languages) are toolkits that allow for interaction with Latitude through your own computer programs.

### API

The Latitude HTTP API (Application Programming Interface) that provides access to platform features for custom integrations.

### Self-Hosting

Running Latitude on your own servers instead of using the managed cloud version.

## Building Blocks

### Prompt Template

The base structure of a prompt that includes placeholders for variables.

### Parameter

A value you provide in the prompt template that tells it what data to use or how to behave.

### Snippet

Reusable prompt fragment that can be shared across multiple prompts.

### System Message

Special instructions to the model that set context and behavior expectations.

### User Message

Content presented as coming from a user in a conversation with the model.

### Assistant Message

Content presented as previously generated by the model in a conversation.


## Next Steps

Now that you're familiar with the core concepts, you can:

- Follow the [Quick Start for Product Managers](/guides/getting-started/quick-start-pm) (No-Code)
- Follow the [Quick Start for AI Engineers](/guides/getting-started/quick-start-dev) (Coding)
- Learn about our [Prompt Manager](/guides/prompt-manager/overview) in more detail
